Thank you, Minister, for joining us today.
I think any Canadian would agree with the statement that progress for women goes hand in hand with safety and certainly putting an end to violence against women. But we have some real concerns about the way in which programming around that priority of ending violence against women has been decided on.
From the 2012 figures, we understand that out of 288 applicants, only 26 received funding. Clearly there's a much greater need than what this government is responding to. Perhaps even more disturbing is the fact that a disproportionate number of the applicants that are indigenous organizations focused on women...in fact, more than 60. We know that the vast majority of those didn't receive funding. In fact only two of these organizations were funded. We know that more than 800 indigenous women are missing or have been murdered in Canada. It's a national epidemic. We hear calls of action and the need for a national inquiry.
On the most basic level of programming, why is the status of women agency choosing to fund only two out of the 62 indigenous women's organizations that have actively reached out for support?